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Monday, December 29, 2014

12,000 Children from Foster Care Sue State of Texas over Abuses

By Melissa Fletcher StoeltjeSan Antonio Express News
Excerpts:
Crystal Bentley, 23, entered the Texas foster care system when she was 2 and wouldn’t leave it until she aged out at 18.
In the intervening years, as she was shuffled from place to place,
she was repeatedly beaten and sexually abused — sometimes by the adults
entrusted with her care, sometimes by their biological children,
sometimes by other foster kids or her own relatives, Bentley testified
in federal court Wednesday.
A rotating cast of Child Protective Services caseworkers who were
supposed to watch out for her safety often didn’t show up for monthly
visits, she said. When they did visit, it was usually for a cursory
handful of minutes during which they failed to detect what was happening
to her.
“I would hint that something was going on, but when they asked me if I
was being sexually abused, it was always right there in front of my
abusers,” Bentley testified. “What could I say?”
Bentley’s testimony Wednesday came on the third day of a trial in a
class-action lawsuit brought by Children’s Rights, a New York-based
advocacy group on behalf of 12,000 children in long-term state care in
Texas.
The suit, being heard by Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham
Jack, alleges the state violated the children’s civil rights through
myriad deficiencies: moving them around repeatedly, placing them in
unsafe care and keeping them there too long. Children’s Rights, which is
presenting its side of the case this week, said it has filed similar
lawsuits in 19 states, resulting in 15 settlements or judgments in its
clients’ favor.
- See more at: http://medicalkidnap.com/2014/12/10/12000-children-from-foster-care-sue-state-of-texas-over-abuses/#sthash.C6CC2AeX.dpuf

By Melissa Fletcher StoeltjeSan Antonio Express News
Excerpts:
Crystal Bentley, 23, entered the Texas foster care system when she was 2 and wouldn’t leave it until she aged out at 18.
In the intervening years, as she was shuffled from place to place,
she was repeatedly beaten and sexually abused — sometimes by the adults
entrusted with her care, sometimes by their biological children,
sometimes by other foster kids or her own relatives, Bentley testified
in federal court Wednesday.
A rotating cast of Child Protective Services caseworkers who were
supposed to watch out for her safety often didn’t show up for monthly
visits, she said. When they did visit, it was usually for a cursory
handful of minutes during which they failed to detect what was happening
to her.
“I would hint that something was going on, but when they asked me if I
was being sexually abused, it was always right there in front of my
abusers,” Bentley testified. “What could I say?”
Bentley’s testimony Wednesday came on the third day of a trial in a
class-action lawsuit brought by Children’s Rights, a New York-based
advocacy group on behalf of 12,000 children in long-term state care in
Texas.
The suit, being heard by Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham
Jack, alleges the state violated the children’s civil rights through
myriad deficiencies: moving them around repeatedly, placing them in
unsafe care and keeping them there too long. Children’s Rights, which is
presenting its side of the case this week, said it has filed similar
lawsuits in 19 states, resulting in 15 settlements or judgments in its
clients’ favor.
- See more at:
http://medicalkidnap.com/2014/12/10/12000-children-from-foster-care-sue-state-of-texas-over-abuses/#sthash.C6CC2AeX.dpuf

By Melissa Fletcher StoeltjeSan Antonio Express News
Excerpts:
Crystal Bentley, 23, entered the Texas foster care system when she was 2 and wouldn’t leave it until she aged out at 18.
In the intervening years, as she was shuffled from place to place,
she was repeatedly beaten and sexually abused — sometimes by the adults
entrusted with her care, sometimes by their biological children,
sometimes by other foster kids or her own relatives, Bentley testified
in federal court Wednesday.
A rotating cast of Child Protective Services caseworkers who were
supposed to watch out for her safety often didn’t show up for monthly
visits, she said. When they did visit, it was usually for a cursory
handful of minutes during which they failed to detect what was happening
to her.
“I would hint that something was going on, but when they asked me if I
was being sexually abused, it was always right there in front of my
abusers,” Bentley testified. “What could I say?”
Bentley’s testimony Wednesday came on the third day of a trial in a
class-action lawsuit brought by Children’s Rights, a New York-based
advocacy group on behalf of 12,000 children in long-term state care in
Texas.
The suit, being heard by Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham
Jack, alleges the state violated the children’s civil rights through
myriad deficiencies: moving them around repeatedly, placing them in
unsafe care and keeping them there too long. Children’s Rights, which is
presenting its side of the case this week, said it has filed similar
lawsuits in 19 states, resulting in 15 settlements or judgments in its
clients’ favor.
- See more at:
http://medicalkidnap.com/2014/12/10/12000-children-from-foster-care-sue-state-of-texas-over-abuses/#sthash.C6CC2AeX.dpuf